Honeywell announced that it is launching its new and used aircraft component buying and selling online platform. Not only are online transactions extremely rare in this area, but Honeywell also does something even unusual: using blockchain technology. “Now less than 2.5% of all transactions are made online in this place,” says Lisa Butters, who leads the Honeywell aerospace venture. “We are the first marketplace to enable custom seller stores and we’re the first to leverage technology in blockchain to build trust between the buyer and seller.”
Reason for blockchain adoption
Customers need a way of ensuring that parts received are genuine, the best prices are obtained and safe from scams and potential issues. They are able to track parts accurately with blockchain, ensure that images and quality documentation are accompanied and that they are available for sale and shipment immediately. It looks as if now, Honeywell has decided to try out the new platform.
Concerns are legitimate
According to Deloitte, aircraft maintenance is a process that uses at best cumbersome databases and at worst a hardcopy system. Used for up to 30 years a commercial aircraft may have seen four to five owners. Thus, it becomes a tough and error-prone process to track information (especially maintenance documents) and pass it to other parties.
Blockchain creates an immutable record of an aircraft maintaining history, detailing and time stamping who carried out what inspections and when. This also has another side effect, which is equally important.
In 2015, American Airlines was accused of maintenance fraud by the Fed Aviation Administration. Mechanics working in American Airlines reported the problem, noticing “differences in aviation maintenance in accordance with required manuals, procedures and the Federal Aviation Regulations.” The chances of such deviations could be minimal (if not eliminated) if a blockchain technology was adopted.
Although blockchain might solve some of the issues, its strength and weaknesses are certain. According to Aeron ‘s CEO, Artem Orange: There are a large range of rules in aviation that leave little room for potential breaches, so we may say that even without the blockchain technology, the whole aviation industry is very efficient and safe. He continues that “The examples of Aeron and Honeywell show, however, that there are certain applications outside of there where the blockchain is effective and provides solutions to the real problems.”
Blockchain and aviation
The aviation industry has enormous potential for blockchain disruption because of the number of problems. Blockchain’s technology is the ideal reliable and decentralized solution for all parties to connect and coordinate. In fact, an Accenture report predicts that by 2021, blockchain will be used by more than 85% of airspace and defense companies.
On 16 July Accenture announced that it would use blockchain technology to provide partnering suppliers, manufacturers and operators with a single shared overview of the supply chain. On the following day, Boeing announced a partnership with SparkCognition to “use artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies in order to track air traffic in the flights and allocate routes and corridours in order to ensure secure and secure transport.”
In the past, Air New Zealand has worked together with Winding Tree to improve booking and baggage tracking services through blockchain and Lufthansa partnered with SAP’s gigantic software for flight reservation, loyalty and supply chains.
The use of blockchain does of course substantially reduce costs, because the intermediaries which sometimes charge up to 25% are removed. Banks are also excluded, reducing not only the related costs but also speeding up the procedure and providing instant payments and commissions.
Finally, blockchain can be used for safety and identity, where it not only offers a unified way of verifying passenger identity, but also a very secure system that enables users to monitor, to what extent and who has access to their data.
Aeron has an interesting case — not for passengers but for drivers. This feature is applied. Pilot flight time on the blockchain is tracked in Aeron’s application logs and the system aim to track global aircraft and flight school data which could otherwise be forged easily. This is a valid concern in view of the fatal incidents in which pilots flew without a license.
2019 trends
The downtimes of Blockchain in 2018 are still ongoing, but slowly yet surely. “The aircraft are one of the most regulated areas of human activities,” said Artem Orange. “It may be difficult for blockchains to enter the aviation industry, but it is a field which can radically disrupt the common leader — for both passengers and pilots as well as for corporations. Introduced new technologies require lengthy review and approval cycles.”
